Governor Tathagata Roy insists the letter is for a perfectly bona fide purpose.

indiaUpdated: Apr 29, 2018 10:47 IST

Priyanka Deb Barman Hindustan Times, Agartala

Tripura governor Tathagata Roy.(Virendra Singh Gosain/HT File Photo)

Tripura governor Tathagata Roy has triggered yet another controversy by writing to chief minister Biplab Deb for a government job for a BJP leader from West Bengal which the opposition CPI (M) said was “unprecedented”.

Roy, in his letter of March 14 had mentioned about one Sarvadaman Ray, a former colleague in the BJP. Ray is a chartered accountant and had worked in private firms. He has shown interest in serving the state government by interacting with possible entrepreneurs and examining accounts as well, the letter suggested.

In the letter, the governor spoke about his long association with Ray in Bengal politics since 1990 as BJP members and recalled his verbal recommendation for him to Deb after the swearing-in ceremony of after the swearing-in ceremony of BJP government on March 9. The chief minister’s office is said to have received the letter on March 23.

Deb’s officer on special duty Sanjay Mishra said that he could not say about the letter without confirmation from his office which is close for three days. The governor’s secretary Samarjit Bhowmik said that he is not “personally” aware about the letter.

But late Saturday night, Roy himself owned by that he had indeed written the letter. “Of course I wrote the letter! It isn’t even confidential because it is a normal letter for a perfectly bona fide purpose. But, as I said, if you are feeling the way Columbus felt on discovering America go ahead and make bigger fools of yourself,” he tweeted after the letter triggered an uproar following a report in a pro-Left Bangla daily.

The state unit of the BJP refused to comment without seeing the letter.

The CPI (M) termed the recommendation as ‘unprecedented’.

“Nothing like this has happened before in the state,” said the party’s state unit secretary Bijan Dhar.

Roy is no stranger to controversy and his tweets regularly raise the hackles of the opposition who have often accused Roy of working more as a BJP member than a governor.